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The Cauldron
As subtle as it is, you can’t help but notice how the surroundings take on a distinctly darker mood as you approach The Cauldron. The decor here isn’t nearly as colorful, and the clientele has also shifted from commoners and tourists to folks much more at home in this new ‘magical’ setting. Food stalls manned by muscular cooks and pretty barmaids are replaced with auction stalls selling all manners of potion ingredients, some normal looking and others less so. The energetic shopkeepers yelling at anyone passing by to take a look are now sullen, quiet individuals looming over shelves of herbs, artifacts, and potions. Everywhere you look, you see people who are here for business rather than pleasure. The air also carries a faint but noticeable hint of aromatics, which periodically get almost overwhelming as you pass by various individuals who seem to enjoy smoking them. DM Flavor Text The Cauldron is a district of Hackett Square that specializes in selling magical goods. Stores here include ingredient houses, potion shops, brewing equipment stores, and various others. Highland Elixirs Out of all the potions shop you’ve seen so far, Highland Elixirs, is easily the fanciest looking one of them all. Most stores here are mobile stalls, or maybe a cubic homestead at best, with flat roofs made of dull, aged wood. While not exactly teeming with squalor, the rest of Hackett Square looks much worse off in comparison with what’s in front of you. The shop itself is made of stone, and almost resembles a miniature castle of sorts. The stone is smooth and polished, with a colorful pattern of blue mimicking the visage of the ocean painted over it. At the points where wooden beams reinforce the walls, said beams are colored in with a light green border, along with a repeating pattern of a sunflower. The roof isn’t flat, but rather slanted down in an inverted V shape made of clay tiles. The smell here is different too. Hackett square is possibly the densest area in Pandeli, and quite frankly, it smells horrible most of the time. The homeless make a living begging here, and the heavy foot traffic means that many people are pressed together extremely closely. Approach the shop however, and the only thing you can smell is the subtle sweetness of flowers. In fact, judging by some of the faint magic circles around the shop, they’re probably pumping in scented air around the store. A narrow canal separates the store from the rest of Hackett Square, connecting the town by a small stone bridge. Looking down the center, it’s almost as if you were staring at two distinct paintings; one of a beautiful stone manor, and the other of a poor slum. The paved stone cuts off sharply into dusty gravel, and so do the grass and flowers surrounding the store. A watermill runs at one side of the canal, along with what appears to be a garden carved out at the bottom of its stone walls. Logically, there’s probably an underground entrance in the shop that leads to it. From here, you can make out various flowers and herbs that are growing in the small pocket. Entering the store, the sweet scent shifts to a distinctly more herbal and medicinal aroma. You proceed down a decorated, carpeted hallway leading into a much smaller, darker room. Said room is quite small, barely enough to fit the entire party, and the sudden shift from the well lit hallway to this boarded off prison looking area leaves you blind for a few moments as your eyes adjust to the contrast in light. Directly in front of you is a counter, along with a service bell and a perch holding an owl. Looking up, it seems that you’re standing inside of a very tall tower. The only light available to you is a small flickering scented candle. It has the slightest hint of ginger. The space above you is pitch black, with the windows being boarded up, and based on what you can still see, the four walls of the room are heavily decorated with all manner of books, plants, potions, and brewing equipment. As you reach out to ring the bell, the owl chirps loudly, flying up into the darkness. You hear the wing flaps get ever fainter, before it abruptly stops, presumably because it landed on something. You hear very faint shuffling, along with a faint, annoyed voice saying ‘hang on, hang on’. The shuffling gradually gets louder, and you also begin to hear the faint sound of scraping wood, metal banging, and glass clinking. You also notice a small, blue magical circle glowing softly on the floor behind the counter. Suddenly, you hear a loud swish, and a massive humanoid figure crashes down into the circle. The momentum of the landing is intense, and you can feel the entire building shake from the impact. The magical circle lights up, before shattering into millions of smaller particles that float through the air, breaking down further into even smaller pieces before being absorbed into a small blue orb sitting on a shelf nearby the counter. As the magic particles are absorbed, the ball begins to glow a faint pale blue. As your vision clears you see that the figure is a fat, portly old woman. Her skin is light grey, and based on her ears she might be an elf, though elf ears don’t typically sag like hers do, regardless of age. While not exactly tall, she’s definitely wide, easily the width of two normal humans standing side by side. She’s holding a pipe in her mouth, which she takes a drag of while examining you. The smoke she blows out has the same medicinal scent that other smokers around The Cauldron have, only much stronger, to the point where being near her makes you feel like you’re choking. The owl on her shoulder settles back on its perch, and the old woman eyes you all with evident annoyance. ‘I only do appointments. Otherwise, ye can git anythin ye need from th’ other shops around th’ square.’ DM Flavor text Highland Elixirs is a high-end potion shop located at the very end of The Cauldron. The shop is owned and manned by Samira Colios, and specializes in making customized potions. Those who are just browsing are referred to the catalog.